The AHP Program acts as the central hub for Australian Chief Medical Officers, Authorised Health Professionals, and Rail Network Operators to efficiently manage the scheduling and training of prospective AHP’s, as well as identifying certified AHP’s to conduct medical assessments for rail workers.

The new AHP program has been developed to provide a professional end to end administration of the AHP program.

The new AHP program has improved the functionality needed to keep the list of AHP’s up-to-date.

The new AHP program will include a new search facility for workers wanting to complete a rail approved Category 1, 2 or 3 medicals to search for an up-to-date list of local AHP’s.

The Rail Industry Worker website currently includes a list of AHP’s, but it’s out of date. Currently, there is no incentive for AHP’s to advise RIW of any changes to their working arrangements.

The introduction of the new National Standard for Health Assessment of Rail Safety Workers (the Standard) provides an opportunity to implement the new AHP Program to ensure the AHP list is up-to-date and will improve the overall quality, governance and assurance of the AHP Program.

Trained and registered AHP’s will be able to manage their own data in the system, as well as online training.

Rail industry workers and rail transport operators will be able to easily search for trained and registered AHP’s to perform rail health medicals.

The portal will provide the ability to extract reports for AHP’s, CMOC, RISSB and MTA.

The new portal will enable trained and registered AHP’s to:

• Locate Chief Medical Officer face-to-face training dates (6 months of dates are displayed in advance) and details.
• Complete online training once they have completed the face-to-face training with a Chief Medical Officer.
• Manage their own data in the system.
• Access AHP only resources.
• Pay their annual membership fee.
• Notifications of subscription and training expiry.
• Escalation of disputes.

AHP’s will need to carry out the following training to be able to conduct assessments under the new Standard:

• Complete the face-to-face training on the new Standard with a Chief Medical Officer and receive a certificate of completion.
• Register with the new AHP program portal and complete the online training on the new portal.
• Complete yearly eLearning refresher if they wish to continue conducting rail medical assessments.

AHP’s will need to carry out the following steps to be trained and registered to conduct assessments under the new Standard:

• Complete the face-to-face training on the new Standard with a Chief Medical Officer and receive a certificate of completion.
• Chief Medical Officers will send a list of the approved AHPs to the AHP Program to be added to the new system.
• Once in the system, individual AHPs will be sent an email with their username and password.
• AHP’s will be promoted to pay the annual $250 + GST ($25) registration fee.
• Once AHP’s have paid their fee, they will need to complete the online training on the new portal.
• Once the online training has been completed, AHPs will be able to populate their public profile on the AHP portal.

AHP’s will be required to complete a yearly eLearning refresher.

This training ensures the AHP is reminded of the standard necessary to conduct rail medical standards.

AHP’s need to complete training with a CMO every 5 years. This training is set to include any relevant new laws, changes to the standard or provide general training to an AHP who has taken a period of time off work.

The program will enable a consistent application of health standards across the rail industry.

This will help to minimise risks and protect the safety of workers and the public.

The Rail Industry Worker website does not have the functionality to keep the list of AHP’s up-to-date or to administer the online training.

The new portal will improve the administration of the AHP list and provide new benefits.

AHPs trained in the new Standard and registered as an AHP with the new AHP program will be required to pay an annual $250 + GST ($25) membership fee.

Rail industry workers will be able to search a user friendly portal that provides the up-to-date details of their closest AHP who are currently trained, active and involved in delivering health assessments.

The new AHP program portal will host information on getting started.

Support for AHP’s is available by lodging a form on the ‘Contact Us’ page on the AHP program portal. The AHP lodging the form will be prompted to select an option to be emailed back or called back.

During the implementation of the new AHP program, the following resources will be available to support AHP’s including fact sheets, a welcome pack, FAQs and a briefing pack.

To become authorised as an AHP, health professionals must be suitably qualified, complete approved training and be registered with the AHP Program. There are two types of AHP’s:

• Those who are authorised to conduct all health assessments, including assessments for Safety Critical Workers (Category 1 and Category 2) and Track Safety Health Assessments (Category 3).
• Those who are authorised to conduct Track Safety Health Assessments (Category 3) only.

The RIW program is a national competency and safety management system for rail workers in the Australian rail industry.

It provides a single electronic record of their health, education and competencies as they work across projects, move between employers and operate on different state networks. The RIW Program helps the rail industry meet its fitness for duty and competency obligations under Rail Safety National Law.

The ARA established the RIW Program in 2012 and engaged MTA to support its delivery.

Employers can use the RIW System to access information on an employee’s or contractor’s fitness for duty, education and competencies in one place, making it easier to minimise risk and protect the health and safety of their workers.

The NTC is responsible for the development and maintenance of the Standard.

It undertakes this role in collaboration with all major stakeholders including the Regulator, jurisdictions, RISSB and RIW, rail transport operators, unions, academics and health professionals.

The Standard provides practical guidance for rail transport operators to manage the risks posed by the ill health of rail safety workers.

Under the Rail Safety National Law (RSNL) all health assessments for rail safety workers in Australia must be conducted in line with the Standard.

Central to the health assessment system prescribed under the Standard is the conduct of assessments by appropriately qualified and competent health professionals – so called Authorised Health Professionals (AHPs). To become authorised, health professionals must be suitably qualified, complete approved training and be registered with the AHP Program (see Section 2.5.2 of the Standard).

The NTC regularly reviews the Standard in collaboration with all major stakeholders including the Regulator, jurisdictions, RISSB and RIW, rail transport operators, unions, academics and health professionals.

NTC is currently developing the next version of the Standard which is due to be implemented in 2024.